Didier Drogba has said that he wants to stay at Chelsea when his contract expires next season. The striker, back to his best form under new interim coach Guus Hiddink, is determined to remain at Stamford Bridge and wants to sign another

Didier Drogba: Staying a Blue.

The Ivory Coast international, who has scored twice since Hiddink took control of the side from sacked Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, said: ''Because of my knee problems and what happened with the manager, I really want to make it clear again that I'm staying here.

''I have worked really hard in training but the good thing is I have had the support of the players and people like Ray Wilkins.''

Meanwhile, an agent claiming to represent Drogba, Thierno Seydi, says Scolari was axed by the club because of a personality clash with the striker.

Scolari was sacked three weeks ago amid allegations that the club's owner Roman Abramovich had met Drogba, goalkeeper Petr Cech and midfielder Michael Ballack at the club's Cobham training ground.

Drogba strenuously denies having anything to do with Scolari's departure and a club spokesman said: ''The comments made are totally ill-informed and are not worthy of a response beyond that.''

However, Seydi claimed: ''The fact that he was told to sit on the bench had nothing to do with sport, it was just a problem between two men that couldn't work together.

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